Hermit thrush • Catharus guttatus

Photos by Misha Warbanski (left) and Brian Starzomski.

IdentificationThe hermit thrush is a medium-sized but robust songbird. It has a rich medium brown head and back, reddish-brown tail, and pale underside marked by spots and smudges on the neck and breast. Its bill is straight and slender, and it has a pale but not prominent eyering. The hermit thrush stands upright with its bill slightly raised. Its song is a beautiful flute-like whistle with a longer, sustained first note. The hermit thrush is more often heard than seen. Click here to listen to its song.

Habitat & RangeThe hermit thrush can be found in the understories of mature forests, especially around forest edges or openings where it hops and scrapes at leaf litter to find food. It is a common species throughout BC in the summer breeding season as well as during the spring and fall migrations. While most populations head to the southern and western United States during the winter, some hermit thrushes remain in southern coastal areas of BC year-round.

​Find more information at the British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas here.

Intriguing InfoHermit Thrush forage for a variety of berries and invertebrates, and especially spiders and insects during the breeding season. Click here for detailed information on biology, life history, and distribution.

ReferencesHermit Thrush. The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online. Accessed 11/08/2014.Fenneman, J. Catharus guttatus Pallas. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.) E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed 11/08/2014.Sibley, D. A. (2003). The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. Andrew Stewart Publishing, New York, NY.